Content-related information delivery system

ABSTRACT

A content-related information delivery system for delivering information related to a content to a user-owned apparatus. The system is composed of a playback apparatus and a server. The playback apparatus monitors a current playback position of the content during playback, generates playback position information specifying a segment of the content, and transmits the generated playback position information to the server. The server receives the playback position information from the playback apparatus, acquires information related to the segment of the content specified by the received playback position information, and transmits the acquired related information to the user-owned apparatus.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to information distribution technology.More particularly, the present invention relates to a content-relatedinformation delivery system for delivering information related to acontent to a user device.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, users are offered a growing number of services fordistribution of digitized contents such as music and movies stored inlarge-capacity recording mediums such as CDs (Compact Discs) and DVDs(Digital Versatile Discs). One advantage of these services is thathigh-quality contents are delivered to users in volume at a time.

In addition, contents distribution over a network is also becomingcommon with the wide spread of broadband lines and always-on Internetconnections. One advantage of such distribution is that bidirectionalcommunications between a server and a user device makes it possible todeliver contents meeting the particular needs of an individual user.

JP patent application publication No. 09-307859 discloses a techniquefor delivering contents to users through the combined use of abovedistribution techniques.

According to the disclosure, a recording medium stores a contentcomposed of text data, image data, and so on. In addition, the recordingmedium stores an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) content composed oflink information showing a playback sequence of the stored data. Aplayback apparatus plays back the content according to the linkinformation. In addition, for improving the interactivity of thecontent, the HTML content also includes link information to a relatedcontent stored on the server connected via a network. Thus, the playbackapparatus is enabled to acquire the related content from the serverusing the link information, and to play back the acquired relatedcontent.

Unfortunately, however, the above technique requires that a contentstored on the recording medium be an HTML content that includes linkinformation to one or more related contents. When a content stored onthe recording medium is not provided with link information, no relatedcontent can be acquired via a network.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is made in view of the above problem and aims toprovide a content-related information delivery system for deliveringcontents related to another content recorded on a recording medium to auser apparatus over a network in response to a user request. Thecontent-related information delivery system according to the presentinvention is applicable even if a content recorded on a recording mediumis not an HTML content provided with link information to relatedcontents.

In order to achieve the above aim, the present invention provides acontent-related information delivery system having: a playback apparatusand a server. The playback apparatus includes: a monitoring unitoperable to monitor a current playback position of a content duringplayback; a playback position information generating unit operable toacquire the current playback position from the monitoring unit andgenerate, using the acquired playback position, playback positioninformation specifying a segment of the content; and a-playback positioninformation transmitting unit operable to transmit the generatedplayback position information to the server. The server includes: aplayback position information receiving unit operable to receive theplayback position information from the playback apparatus; a relatedinformation acquiring unit operable to acquire information related tothe segment of the content specified by the received playback positioninformation; and a related information transmitting unit operable totransmit the acquired related information to a destination apparatus.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus transmitsplayback position information specifying a segment of a content to theserver. In response, the server transmits related information to adestination apparatus according to the playback position information.Consequently, the playback apparatus is enabled to request the serverfor information related to the content even if the content is providedwith no link information. In addition, the server is enabled to transmitthe related information to the destination apparatus.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a playback apparatusfor playing back a content and requesting a server for informationrelated to the content. The a playback apparatus includes: a playbackposition information generating unit operable to generate playbackposition information specifying a segment of the content; and a playbackposition information transmitting unit operable to transmit thegenerated playback position information to the server.

With the structure stated above, the playback position information isgenerated by the playback apparatus and transmitted to the server.Consequently, information related to a content is requested even if thecontent subjected to playback does not include link information to therelated information.

Here, the playback position information generating unit may include:selecting subunit operable to receive a user selection of a desiredscene of the content; an acquiring subunit operable to acquire aplayback position of the selected scene of the content; and a generatingsubunit operable to generate the playback position information thatincludes the acquired playback position.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus receives a userselection of a favorite scene and generates playback positioninformation specifying the user's favorite scene. That is to say, theplayback apparatus can inform the server about the user's favoritescene, so that the playback apparatus can request the server for theuser's favorite scene.

Here, the playback apparatus may further include a monitoring unitoperable to monitor a current playback position of the content duringplayback. The acquiring subunit acquires the playback position of theselected scene from the monitoring unit.

With the structure stated above, the current playback position of acontent is monitored at all times. Upon receipt of a user selection of afavorite scene, the playback apparatus generates playback positioninformation by referring to the current playback position.

Here, the playback apparatus may further include a content identifieracquiring unit operable to acquire a content identifier uniquelyidentifying the content. The monitoring unit monitors the currentplayback position by measuring a time period elapsed from a start of theplayback. The generating subunit generates the playback positioninformation that includes the content identifier acquired by the contentidentifier acquiring unit and the playback position acquired by theacquiring subunit.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus acquires acontent identifier and generates the playback position information thatincludes the content identifier. The server can identify each piece ofplayback position information using the content identifier. That is tosay, the playback apparatus may transmit to the server a plurality ofpieces of playback position information for a plurality of contents.

Here, the playback apparatus may further include: a display unitoperable to display the content on a screen; and an on-screen positionacquiring unit operable to receive a user selection of a desired pointon the screen displaying the selected scene and acquire an on-screenposition of the selected point. The generating subunit generates theplayback position information that includes the content identifier, theplayback position, and the on-screen position.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus allows the userto select a specific image appearing in a scene displayed on a screen.For example, a specific actor, a restaurant, a theme park, a piece offurniture, a building may be selected. Consequently, the playbackapparatus is enabled to inform the server about user's interests ingreater detail and to make a request for information related not only tothe user's favorite scene but also to a specific image included thescene.

Here, the playback apparatus may read the content from a portablerecording medium and plays back the read content. The monitoring unitmonitors the current playback position on the recording medium duringplayback of the content. The acquiring subunit acquires the playbackposition of the selected scene on the recording medium.

With the structure stated above, during playback of a content recordedon a recording medium, the playback apparatus monitors the storageposition such as a track number or a sector number of a frame currentlyplayed. Thus, the playback apparatus is capable of generating playbackposition information of a content stored on the recording medium.

Here, the content may be composed of a plurality of frames. Each frameincludes a playback time showing a time from a start of the content atwhich the frame is to be played back. The acquiring subunit acquires aplayback time of a frame corresponding to the selected scene.

With the structure stated above, each of a plurality of framesconstituting the content includes information showing playback time ofthe frame from the start of the content. Thus, without monitoring thecurrent playback position of the content, the playback apparatus iscapable of generating the playback information using the playback timeshown by each frame. Note that each frame may include informationshowing the serial number in the playback sequence, rather than theplayback time.

Here, the content may be composed of a plurality of frames. Theselecting subunit acquires a frame corresponding to the selected scene.The generating subunit generates the playback position information thatincludes the acquired frame.

With the structure stated above, it is no longer necessary that theplayback apparatus monitors the current playback position of the contentor that each frame constituting the content include information showingthe playback time of the frame. Still, a request for related informationmay be made by transmitting, as the playback position information, datarepresenting a frame to the server.

Here, the playback apparatus may further include a related informationreceiving unit operable to receive from the server, information relatedto the segment of the content specified by the playback positioninformation.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus can acquireinformation related to a content by generating playback positioninformation and transmitting the playback position information to theserver. This holds even if the content is not provided with linkinformation to the related information.

Here, the playback apparatus may play back the content in associationwith the related information received by the related informationreceiving unit.

With the structure stated above, even if a content is not provided withlink information to information related to the content, the playbackapparatus can acquire the related information by generating playbackposition information and transmitting the playback position informationto the server. The playback apparatus then plays back the relatedinformation in association with playback of the content. In one specificexample, the content is a movie and the related information is datarepresenting subtitles. In this case, the movie and the subtitles areplayed back in synchronism.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a server fordelivering information related to a content, including: a playbackposition information receiving unit operable to receive playbackposition information specifying a segment of the content from a playbackapparatus that plays back the content; a related information acquiringunit operable to acquire information related to the segment of thecontent specified by the received playback position information; and arelated information transmitting unit operable to transmit the acquiredrelated information to a destination apparatus.

With the structure stated above, the server receives playback positioninformation specifying a segment of a content from the playbackapparatus. In response, the server transmits to a destination apparatus,information related to the segment of the content specified by theplayback position information. That is so say, the server is capable ofdelivering related information to a destination apparatus withoutreceiving, from the playback apparatus, link information showing e.g.the storage location of the related information on the server.

Here, the server may further include a related information storage unitoperable to store, for each scene of the content, information related tothe scene in association with a playback position of the scene. Therelated information receiving unit receives the playback positioninformation that includes a playback position of a scene of the content.The related information acquiring unit acquires, from the relatedinformation storage unit, a piece of related information associated withthe playback position that is included in the playback positioninformation.

With the structure stated above, the server is enabled to provide, foreach scene of a content, a piece of information related to the scene.Furthermore, since the server stores the related information, it is notnecessary for the server to acquire the related information from anexternal apparatus.

Here, the related information storage unit may store, for each scene ofthe content, the related information which is a frame corresponding tothe scene or information generated by processing the frame.Alternatively, the related information storage unit may store, for eachscene of the content, the related information which is an imageappearing in the scene in association with a position of the image on ascreen displaying the scene. The playback position information receivingunit receives the playback position information that includes a playbackposition of a scene and an on-screen position of an image. The relatedinformation acquiring unit acquires a piece of related informationspecified by the playback position and the on-screen position that areincluded in the received playback position information.

With the structures stated above, the server receives the playbackposition information that includes an on-screen position from theplayback apparatus. Accordingly, the server is informed of user'sinterests in greater detail. For example, the on-screen position mayspecify an actor, a restaurant, a theme park, a piece of furniture, or abuilding appearing in a scene. As a result, the server is enabled totransmit to the destination apparatus the related information that islikely to be of the user's interests.

Here, the server may further include: a user identifier receiving unitoperable to receive from the playback apparatus a user identifieruniquely identifying a user of the playback apparatus; a destinationstorage unit operable to store a plurality of user identifiers each inassociation with a piece of destination information showing adestination apparatus for transmission of the related information. Therelated information transmitting unit acquires, with reference to thedestination storage unit, destination information associated with theuser identifier received by the user identifier receiving unit, andtransmits the related information to the destination apparatus shown bythe acquired destination information.

Furthermore, the destination storage unit may store the user identifieruniquely identifying the user of the playback apparatus, in associationwith a piece of destination information showing the playback apparatusas the destination apparatus. The related information transmitting unittransmits the related information to the playback apparatus.Alternatively, the destination information storage unit may store theuser identifier uniquely identifying the user of the playback apparatus,in association with a piece of destination information showing, as thedestination apparatus, an apparatus other than the playback apparatus.The related information transmitting unit transmits the relatedinformation to said other apparatus shown by the destinationinformation.

With the structures stated above, the user may inform the server about auser identifier and an address of destination apparatus at the time ofsign-up for the service. In response, the server stores the informeduser identifier and address, so that related information is transmittedto the user-designated apparatus.

Here, the server may further include a billing unit operable to chargethe user for the related information, based on the user identifier.

With the structure stated above, the server is enabled to charge theuser for the related information delivered to the destination apparatus.

Here, the playback position information receiving unit may receive, asthe playback position information, a frame out of a plurality of framesconstituting the content. The related information acquiring unitgenerates the related information by processing the received frame.

With the structure stated above, the server receives, as the playbackposition information, a frame of the content from the playbackapparatus. In response, the server generates related information byprocessing the received frame and transmitting the thus generatedrelated information to the destination apparatus. Consequently, forexample, the server may provide a high-quality still image generated byprocessing the frame and attaching a digital signature thereto. In thiscase, there is an advantage that it is not necessary for the server togenerate and store related information in advance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view showing the configuration of a content-relatedinformation delivery system 1 consistent with a first embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a view showing content data CNTDATA recorded on a recordingmedium 10;

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a first playback apparatus 20included in the content-related information delivery system 1;

FIG. 4 is a view showing a counter unit 203;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a user information storage unit 204;

FIG. 6 is a view showing data included in playback position informationTI1;

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of a server 30 included in thecontent-related information delivery system 1;

FIG. 8 is a view showing information stored in a destination storageunit 303;

FIG. 9 is a view showing information stored in a content storage unit305;

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of a second playback apparatus 40included in the content-related information delivery system 1;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the overall operation of the content-relatedinformation delivery system 1;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of the operation of the first playback apparatus20;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the operation of the server 30;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the operation of the second playback apparatus40;

FIG. 15 is a view showing content data CNTDATA recorded on the recordingmedium 10, consistent with a modification of the content-relatedinformation delivery system 1;

FIG. 16A is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on an outputunit 210 of the first playback apparatus 20, consistent with amodification of the content-related information delivery system 1;

FIG. 16B is a view showing a second content displayed on the secondplayback apparatus 40 in the case where a scene 16 shown in FIG. 16A isselected;

FIG. 17 is a view showing the configuration of a content-relatedinformation delivery system 2 consistent with a second embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 18 is a view showing content data CNTDATA recorded on a recordingmedium 60;

FIG. 19 is a functional block diagram of a playback apparatus 70;

FIG. 20 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on an outputunit 712 of the playback apparatus 70;

FIG. 21 is a view showing data included in playback position informationTI1-1;

FIG. 22 is a view showing data included in bulletin board requestinformation REQBBS;

FIG. 23 is a functional block diagram of a server 80;

FIG. 24 is a view showing data included in BBS storage unit 805;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart of the operation of the content-relatedinformation delivery system 2 (continued on FIG. 26); and

FIG. 26 is the flowchart of the operation of the content-relatedinformation delivery system 2 (continued from FIG. 25).

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION FIRST EMBODIMENT

The following describes a content-related information delivery system 1consistent with a first embodiment of the present invention.

In the content-related information delivery system 1, when a firstplayback apparatus receives a user request during playback of a packagecontent recorded on a recording medium, a server transmits a networkcontent stored on the server to a second playback apparatus. The networkcontent is related to a scene being played back on the first playbackapparatus at the time of receiving the user request (hereinafter, such ascene may be refereed to as “playback position”).

<Configuration>

Here, the configuration of the content-related information deliverysystem 1 is described.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the configuration of the content-relatedinformation delivery system 1. As shown in the figure, thecontent-related information delivery system 1 includes a recordingmedium 10, a first playback apparatus 20, a server 30, and a secondplayback apparatus 40.

The first playback apparatus 20, the server 30, and the second playbackapparatus 40 are separately connected to a network 50. The recordingmedium 10 is mounted on the first playback apparatus 20 when put to use.In this embodiment, the network 50 typically is, but not limited to, theInternet. Yet, the network 50 may alternatively be a telephone networkor a dedicated network.

1. Recording Medium 10

The recording medium 10 is a portable medium having content data CNTDATArecorded in advance. Specifically, the recording medium 10 is a DVD-ROM.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the content data CNTDATA recorded on therecording medium 10. As shown in the figure, the content data CNTDATA iscomposed of a content identifier CID-1 and a first content CNT1.

Specifically, the first content CNT1 is content data generated bycompression coding a movie to an MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Expert Group-2)format. Note that the MPEG-2 format is mentioned by way of example andwithout limitation. Any format other than MPEG-2 may be used as long asthe first playback apparatus 20 supports the format.

The content identifier CID-1 is a code or a character string uniquelyidentifying the first content CNT1. In this embodiment, the contentidentifier CID-1 is a movie title of the first content CNT1. Instead ofthe movie title, however, the content identifier CID-1 may be a discnumber uniquely identifying the recording medium 10.

2. First Playback Apparatus 20

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the first playback apparatus 20.As shown in the figure, the first playback apparatus 20 includes anaccess unit 201, a decode unit 202, a counter unit 203, a userinformation storage unit 204, a request input unit 205, a control unit206, a transmission unit 207, a server address input unit 208, anoperation unit 209, and an output unit 210.

Specifically, the first playback apparatus 20 is a DVD system composedof a DVD player and a display unit. More specifically, the firstplayback apparatus 20 is a computer system composed generally of amicroprocessor, a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk unit, a network connectionunit, and an MPEG decoder.

(1) Access Unit 201

Specifically, the access unit 201 is a DVD-ROM drive unit composedgenerally of a turn table, an optical pickup, and a track buffer. Theaccess unit 201 reads the content data CNTDATA stored on the recordingmedium 10 in the following manner.

First, upon placement of the recording medium 10 onto the turn table,the access unit 201 issues to the control unit 206 a signal indicating astart of reading the content data CNTDATA.

Subsequently, the optical pickup reads the content identifier CID-1 witha laser beam and outputs the read content identifier CID-1 to thecounter unit 203. Next, the optical pickup sequentially reads the firstcontent CNT1 and outputs the read first content CNT1 to the decode unit202 via a track buffer.

(2) Decode Unit 202

The decode unit 202 includes an MPEG-2 video decoder, an MPEG-2 audiodecoder, a video buffer, and an audio buffer.

The decode unit 202 separates the first content CNT1 that issequentially outputted from the access unit 201 into video data andaudio data. The decode unit 202 decompresses the separated video datainto a video signal using the MPEG-2 video decoder, and the separatedaudio data into an audio signal using the MPEG-2 audio decoder. Thedecode unit 202 sequentially outputs the decompressed video and audiosignals to the output unit 210.

Note that the decode unit 202 may be implemented by software orhardware.

(3) Counter Unit 203

The counter unit 203 has a counter CTR and an area for storing a contentidentifier.

The counter CTR is a value used for measuring a playback time of thefirst content CNT1. Specifically, the counter CTR takes on aneight-digit decimal number ranging from “0” to “99,999,999”.

On receiving an initializing instruction from the control unit 206, thecounter unit 203 performs initialization by resetting the value of thecount CTR to “0” and discarding the currently held content identifier.

On receiving the content identifier CID-1 from the access unit 201, thecounter unit 203 stores the content identifier CID-1, as shown in FIG.4. In addition, the counter unit 203 starts measuring playback time ofthe content. Specifically, the counter CTR starts counting up from “0”by increment of “1” per 1 ms.

Note that the value taken on the counter CTR is not limited to an8-digit decimal number. The counter CTR may be able to hold any digit ofnumbers in any numerical system. The counter CTR may be implemented bytime-code used for synchronizing the video and audio. In addition, thecounter CTR locates the current playback position of the first contentCNT1 even if the first playback apparatus 20 is capable of fastforwarding and rewinding.

(4) User Information Storage Unit 204

As shown in FIG. 5, the user information storage unit 204 stores a useridentifier UID-1. The user identifier UID-1 is an identifier uniquelyidentifying the user of first playback apparatus 20. Specifically, theuser identifier UID-1 used in this embodiment is a serial number of thefirst playback apparatus 20 written into the user information storageunit 204 at the time of manufacturing.

It is naturally appreciated that the user identifier UID-1 is notlimited to the serial number of the playback apparatus. Alternatively, auser's credit card number may be used. In this case, the user inputs hiscredit card number via the operation unit 209 on initialization of thefirst playback apparatus 20. In response, the control unit 206 storesthe inputted credit card number to the user information storage unit204.

Alternatively, the user identifier UID-1 may be assigned to the user bymaking user registration on a content provider's server via a Webservice. The user then inputs the thus assigned user identifier UID-1 tothe first playback apparatus 20 using the operation unit 209.

Alternatively, the user identifier UID-1 may be a network address ADR-1of the second playback apparatus 40.

(5) Request Input Unit 205

Specifically, the request input unit 205 includes an infrared receiver,for example. The request input unit 205 receives an infrared signalindicative of request information REQ from the operation unit 209 andpasses the received request information REQ to the control unit 206.

The request information REQ is generated in response to a user operationmade to the operation unit 209 during the time the decode unit 202 andthe output unit 210 are producing playback of the first content CNT1.The request information REQ is used to specify a playback positionrequested by the user.

(6) Control Unit 206

The control unit 206 is composed generally of a microprocessor, a ROM,and a RAM. The control unit 206 is connected to the access unit 201, thecounter unit 203, the user information storage unit 204, the requestinput unit 205, and the transmission unit 207. The control unit 206controls the overall operation of the first playback apparatus 20.

On receiving from the access unit 201 a signal indicating a start ofreading the content data CNTDATA, the control unit 206 outputs aninitializing instruction to the counter unit 203.

On receiving request information REQ from the request input unit 205,the control unit 206 acquires from the counter unit 203 the contentidentifier CID-1 and the counter value held in the counter CTR at thepoint of time. The control unit 206 further acquires the user identifierUID-1 from the user information storage unit 204. Note that the countervalue held in the counter CTR at the point of time is denoted as the“counter CTR-n”. The control unit 206 then generates playback positioninformation TI1 shown in FIG. 6 from the thus acquired contentidentifier CID-1, counter CTR-n, and user identifier UID-1.

The playback position information TI1 is information requestingtransmission of a network content that is related to a specific playbackposition shown by the counter CTR-n, in the first content CNT1identified by the content identifier CID-1. The destination of thenetwork content is a device registered in advance by the user identifiedby the user identifier UID-1.

The control unit 206 outputs the generated playback position informationTI1 to the transmission unit 207.

(7) Transmission Unit 207

The transmission unit 207 receives the playback position information TI1from the control unit 206, and the server address S-ADR from the serveraddress input unit 208. The transmission unit 207 then transmits theplayback position information TI1 to the server address S-ADR via thenetwork 50.

(8) Server Address Input Unit 208

Specifically, the server address input unit 208 includes an infraredreceiver, for example. The server address input unit 208 receives aninfrared signal indicative of the server address S-ADR from theoperation unit 209 and passes the received server-address S-ADR to thetransmission unit 207. Note that the server address S-ADR is a networkaddress of the server 30, such as an e-mail address or an IP address.

(9) Operation Unit 209

The operation unit 209 includes an operation panel provided with aplurality of buttons, for example, and also includes an infraredemitter. The operation unit 209 is a remote controller via which thefirst playback apparatus 20 is remotely controlled. At a push of abutton on the operation panel by the user, the operation unit 209generates an operation signal corresponding to the pushed button andtransmits the operation signal by way of infrared communications to theinfrared receiver of the first playback apparatus 20.

Specific examples of the operation signals generated by the operationunit 209 include the request information REQ and the server addressS-ADR. At a push of a specific button by a user during playback by theoutput unit 210 of the first content CNT1, the operation unit 209generates request information REQ and transmits the generated requestinformation REQ to the request input unit 205. Also, the operation unit209 receives a user input of the server address S-ADR and transmits thereceived server address S-ADR to the server address input unit 208.

(10) Output Unit 210

Specifically, the output unit 210 is a display unit including a displayscreen and a speaker. The output unit 210 sequentially receives thevideo and audio signals from the decode unit 202, and sequentiallyoutputs the video signal to the display screen and the audio signal tothe speaker.

3. Server 30

The server 30 stores and manages a plurality of network contents foreach of a plurality of package contents. The server 30 has a networkaddress S-ADR.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of the server 30. As shown in thefigure, the server 30 includes a reception unit 301, a destinationacquiring unit 302, a destination storage unit 303, a content acquiringunit 304, a content storage unit 305, and a transmission unit 306.

Specifically, the server 30 is a computer system composed generally of amicroprocessor, a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk unit, and a network connectionunit.

(1) Reception Unit 301

The reception unit 301 includes a network connection unit, and receivesthe playback position information TI1 from the first playback apparatus20 via the network 50. As shown in FIG. 6, the playback positioninformation TI1 is composed of the user identifier UID-1, the contentidentifier CID-1, and the counter CTR-n. The reception unit 301 extractsthe user identifier UID-1 from the received playback positioninformation TI1 and passes to the destination acquiring unit 302. Thereception unit 301 also extracts the content identifier CID-1 andcounter CTR-n from the received playback position information TI1 andpasses to the content acquiring unit 304.

(2) Destination Acquiring Unit 302

On receiving the user identifier UID-1 from the reception unit 301, thedestination accruing unit 302 acquires the destination address ADR-1associated with the received user identifier UID-1, from thelater-described destination storage unit 303.

(3) Destination Storage Unit 303

FIG. 8 is a view showing the information stored in the destinationstorage unit 303. The destination storage unit 303 stores as many as k(k is an integer equal to or greater than 1) user identifiers anddestination addresses in a one-to-one association. More specifically,the destination storage unit 303 stores the user identifier UID-1 inassociation with the destination address ADR-1, the user identifierUID-2 in association with the destination address ADR-2 . . . and theuser identifier UID-k in association with the destination address ADR-k.

Each destination address is information used by the server 30 afterreceiving playback position information from a device identified by acorresponding user address. Using the destination address, the server 30specifies a destination device to which a network content related to thereceived playback position information is requested to be transmitted.Specifically, the destination address is a network address, such as ane-mail address or an IP address, of a destination device of a networkcontent.

According to FIG. 8, when receiving playback position information thatincludes the user identifier UID-1, the server 30 operates to transmit anetwork content related to the playback position information TI1 to adevice having the network address ADR-1.

Note that the destination storage unit 303 stores the user identifiersand destination addresses through prior registration by users. Forexample, the users may in advance inform the server 30 about the useridentifiers and destination addresses by post or via a Web service.

(4) Content Acquiring Unit 304

The content acquiring unit 304 receives the content identifier CID-1 andthe counter CTR-n from the reception unit 301.

The content acquiring unit 304 selects a first content group 305 a fromthe later-described content storage unit 305, based on the receivedcontent identifier CID-1. The first content group 305 a is a group ofnetwork contents all related to the first content CNT1 that isidentified by the content identifier CID-1. Next, the content acquiringunit 304 selectively acquires a second content CNT2-1-n out of the firstcontent group 305 a, based on the received counter CTR-n.

The content acquiring unit 304 then outputs the acquired second contentCNT2-1-n to the transmission unit 306.

(5) Content Storage Unit 305

As shown in FIG. 9, the content storage unit 305 stores as many as m (mis an integer equal to or greater than 1) content groups. Each contentgroup in turn includes a plurality of network contents. Hereinafter, aspecific description is given.

The content storage unit 305 stores the first content group 305 a, asecond content group 305 b, . . . and a m^(th) content group 305 c. Thefirst content group 305 a is a group of network contents all related tothe first content CNT1 identified by the content identifier CID-1.Similarly, the second content group 305 b is a group of network contentsall related to a package content identified by the content identifierCID-2, and the m^(th) content group 305 c is a group of network contentsall related to a package content identified by the content identifierCID-m.

The first content group 305 a includes the following network contentseach related to a specific playback position within the first contentCNT1: a second content CNT2-1-1 that relates to a playback positionshown by the counter CTR-1; a second content CNT2-1-2 that relates to aplayback position shown by the counter CTR-2; a second content CNT2-1-3that relates to a playback position shown by the counter CTR-3; . . .and a second content CNT2-1-n that relates to a playback position shownby the counter CTR-n.

Note that the second contents CNT2-1-1, CNT2-1-2, CNT2-1-3 . . . andCNT2-1-n are wallpaper data (still image data) of scenes of the firstcontent CNT1, which is a movie. The wall paper data is in a formatsupported by the second playback apparatus 40. In this embodiment, theformat is JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group).

In short, the first content group 305 a includes a plurality of sets ofdata each composed of a movie title (content identifier), a playbackposition (counter CTR-n), and a piece of wallpaper data (second contentCNT2-1-n) Note that the wall paper data is digitally watermarked toprohibit unauthorized copying.

Although not illustrated, the second content group 305 b includes secondcontents CNT2-2-1, CNT2-2-2, CNT2-2-3 . . . and CNT2-2-n, which arenetwork contents each related to a specific playback position within apackage content identified by the content identifier CID-2.Specifically, the second contents CNT2-2-1, CNT2-2-2, CNT2-2-3 . . . andCNT2-2-n relate to the playback positions shown by the counters CTR-1,CTR-2, CTR-3, . . . and CTR-n, respectively.

Similarly, although not illustrated, the m^(th) content group 305 cincludes second contents CNT2-m-1, CNT2-m-2, CNT2-m-3 . . . andCNT2-m-n, which are network contents each related to a specific playbackposition within a package content identified by the content identifierCID-m. Specifically, the second contents CNT2-m-1, CNT2-m-2, CNT2-m-3 .. . and CNT2-m-n relate to the playback positions shown by the countersCTR-1, CTR-2, CTR-3, . . . and CTR-n, respectively.

Note that the above information stored in the content storage unit 305is registered by a content provider in advance.

(6) Transmission Unit 306

The transmission unit 306 receives the destination address ADR-1 fromthe destination acquiring unit 302, and the second content CNT2-1-n fromthe content acquiring unit 304. The transmission unit 306 then transmitsthe second content CNT2-1-n to the destination address ADR-1 via thenetwork 50.

4. Second Playback Apparatus 40

The second playback apparatus 40 is owned by the same user as the firstplayback apparatus 20.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of the second playback apparatus40. As shown in the figure, the second playback apparatus 40 includes atransmission/reception unit 401, a decode unit 402, a display unit 403,a control unit 404, an antenna 405, a speaker 406, and a microphone 407.Specifically, the second playback apparatus 40 is a mobile phone capableof radio communications and composed generally of a microprocessor, aROM, a RAM, a liquid crystal display, an operation key unit, and anantenna.

The control unit 404, the antenna 405, the speaker 406, and themicrophone 407 shown in FIG. 10 are the elements for the second playbackapparatus 40 to carry out the mobile phone functions. Yet, nodescription thereof is given here because such elements and functionsare already known in the art. Hereinafter, a description is given to thecharacteristic elements of the second playback apparatus 40 in thecontent-related information delivery system 1.

(1) Transmission/Reception Unit 401

The transmission/reception unit 401 performs transmission of radio waveswith a non-illustrated mobile station, thereby receiving the secondcontent CNT2-1-n from the server 30 via the network 50 and the mobilestation. The transmission/reception unit 401 passes the received secondcontent CNT2-1-n to the decode unit 402.

(2) Decode Unit 402

Specifically, the decode unit 402 is a JPEG decoder, and receives thesecond content CNT2-1-n from the transmission/reception unit 401. Thedecode unit 402 then decodes the received second content CNT2-1-n andoutputs the decoded second content CNT-2-1-n to the display unit 403.

(3) Display Unit 403

The display unit 403 includes a liquid crystal display screen and animage storage area. The display unit 403 receives the second contentCNT2-1-n decoded by the decode unit 402 to store into the image storagearea. When receiving from the control unit 404 a signal indicating thatthe second playback apparatus 40 is in a “standby” status, the displayunit 403 reads the second content CNT2-1-n from the image storage areaand displays the read second content CNT2-1-n on the liquid crystaldisplay screen.

<Operation>

Now, a description is given to the operation of the content-relatedinformation delivery system 1, with reference to flowcharts shown inFIGS. 11-14.

1. Overall Operation

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the overall operation of the content-relatedinformation delivery system 1.

First of all, the first playback apparatus 20 performs predeterminedprocessing (step S11), followed by predetermined processing by theserver 30 (step S12). Finally, the second playback apparatus 40 performspredetermined processing (step S13), thereby completing the entireprocessing.

2. Operation of First Playback Apparatus 20

With reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 12, a description is givento the operation of the first playback apparatus 20 to carry out thepredetermined processing. Note that the operation described below isdetails of the step S11 shown in FIG. 11. The first playback apparatus20 is triggered to start the predetermined processing when the recordingmedium 10 is mounted to the access unit 201.

The access unit 201 issues a signal to the control unit 206 to indicatea start of reading the content data CNTDATA from the recording medium10. On receiving the signal indicative of the read start, the controlunit 206 issues an initialization signal to the counter unit 203. Onreceiving the initialization signal, the counter unit 203 resets thecounter value (step S100).

Next, the access unit 201 reads the content identifier CID-1 from therecording medium 10, and passes the read content identifier CID-1 to thecounter unit 203. In response, the counter unit 203 stores the contentidentifier CID-1 therein, and starts measuring the time (step S101) byautomatically incrementing the counter CTR by 1 per 1 ms. Independentlyof the operation of the counter unit 203 to count up the counter CTR,the first playback apparatus 20 performs the step S102 onward.

The access unit 201 extracts part of the first content CNT1 from therecording medium 10 (step S102), and passes the extracted part of thefirst content CNT1 to the decode unit 202 (step S103). On receiving partof the first content CNT1 from the access unit 201, the decode unit 202separates the received part into video data and audio data, and decodethe separated data into video and audio signals. The decode unit 202then passes the resulting signals representing part of the first contentCNT1 to the output unit 210. The output unit 210 plays back the part ofthe first content CNT1 (step S104).

Here, a judgment is made as to whether the request input unit 205 hasreceived request information REQ via the operation unit 209 (step S105).When it is judged that no request information REQ has been received(step S105, NO), the processing goes onto the step S112.

When it is judged that the request input unit 205 has received requestinformation REQ via the operation unit 209, the request input unit 205passes the received request information REQ to the control unit 206(step S106).

On receiving the request information REQ, the control unit 206 acquiresthe content identifier CID-1 stored in the counter unit 203 and alsoacquires the counter CTR-n, which is a counter value held at that time(step S107). In addition, the control unit 206 acquires the useridentifier UID-1 from the user information storage unit 204 (step S108).

Next, the control unit 206 generates playback position information TI1from the content identifier CID-1 and counter CTR-n both acquired in thestep S107 as well as the user identifier UID-1 acquired in the step S108(see FIG. 6). The control unit 206 outputs the thus generated playbackposition information TI1 to the transmission unit 207 (step S109).

On the other hand, the server address input unit 208 receives-an input-of the server address S-ADR via the operation unit 209, and passes thereceived server address S-ADR to the transmission unit 207 (step S110).

With reference to the server address S-ADR, the transmission unit 207transmits the playback position information TI1 to the server 30 (stepS111).

Next, the access unit 201 judges whether the first content CNT1 includedin the content data CNTDATA has been entirely outputted (step S112). Onoutputting the entire first content CNT1 (step S112, YES), theprocessing goes back to the steps of the flowchart shown in FIG. 11.

On the other hand, when the first content CNT1 has not yet beencompletely outputted (step S112, NO), the access unit 201 goes back tothe step S102 to continue the processing.

3. Operation of Server 30

With reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 13, a description is givento the operation of the server 30 to carry out the predeterminedprocessing. Note that the operation described below is details of thestep S12 shown in FIG. 11.

The reception unit 301 monitors whether playback position informationTI1 is received from the first playback apparatus 20 over the network 50(step S151). While no playback position information TI1 has beenreceived (step S151, NO), the processing moves onto the step S13 of theflowchart shown in FIG. 11. On receiving playback position informationTI1 (step S151, YES), the reception unit 301 extracts the useridentifier UID-1, the content identifier CID-1, and the counter CTR-nfrom the received playback position information TI1 (step S152).

The reception unit 301 then outputs the extracted user identifier UID-1to the destination acquiring unit 302 (step S153), and the extractedcontent identifier CID-1 and counter CTR-n to the content acquiring unit304 (step S154).

The destination acquiring unit 302 acquires from the destination storageunit 303, the destination address ADR-1 that is associated with the useridentifier UID-1 received from the reception unit 301, and outputs theacquired destination address ADR-1 to the transmission unit 306 (stepS155). Specifically, the destination acquiring unit 302 extracts fromthe destination storage unit 303, the destination address ADR-1 storedin association with the user identifier UID-1.

In addition, the content acquiring unit 304 acquires the second contentCNT2-1-n from the content storage unit 305, based on the contentidentifier CID-1 and the counter CTR-n both received from the receptionunit 301. The content acquiring unit 304 then outputs the thus acquiredsecond content CNT2-1-n to the transmission unit 306 (step S156).Specifically, the content acquiring unit 304 first specifies, out of aplurality of content groups stored in the content storage unit 305, thefirst content group 305 a corresponding to the first content CNT1identified by the content identifier CID-1. The content acquiring unit304 then specifies, out of a plurality of contents included in the thusspecified first content group 305 a, the second content CNT2-1-ncorresponding to the counter CTR-n, and extracts the thus specifiedsecond content CNT2-1-n.

Next, the transmission unit 306 receives the destination address ADR-1from the destination acquiring unit 302, and the second content CNT2-1-nfrom the content acquiring unit 304. The transmission unit 306 thentransmits the second content CNT2-1-n to the second playback apparatus40 at the destination address ADR-1 over the network 50 (step S157). Theprocessing then goes back to the flowchart shown in FIG. 11.

3. Operation of Second Playback Apparatus 40

With reference to FIG. 14, a description is now given to the operationof the second playback apparatus 40. Note that the operation describedbelow is details of the step S13 shown in FIG. 11.

The transmission/reception unit 401 of the second playback apparatusmonitors whether the second content CNT2-1-n is received from the server30 over the network 50. While the second content CNT 2-1-n is notreceived (step S201, NO), the processing returns to the flowchart shownin FIG. 11. On receiving the second content CNT2-1-n (step S201, YES),the transmission/reception unit 401 passes the received second-contentCNT2-1-n to the decode unit 402 (step S202). On receiving the secondcontent CNT2-1-n, the decode unit 402 decodes the received secondcontent CNT2-1-n and outputs the decoded second content CNT2-1-n to thedisplay unit 403 (step S203). The display unit 403 displays the receivedsecond content CNT2-1-n on the LCD screen while in the standby status.The processing then goes back to the flowchart shown in FIG. 11.

<Modifications>

The present invention has been described by way of the above embodiment.It is naturally appreciated, however, that the present invention is notlimited to the specific embodiment disclosed above, and modificationsincluding the following still fall within the scope of the presentinvention.

(1) The recording medium 10 is not limited to the DVD-ROM. The recordingmedium 10 maybe a BD (Blu-ray Disc) or CD-ROM.

Furthermore, the first content CNT1 stored on the recording medium 10 isnot limited to a movie. The first content may be still image data, videodata, or music data, as long as the data is in a format that can beplayed back by the first playback apparatus 20.

(2) The recording medium 10 may additionally store the server addressS-ADR within the content data CNTDATA, as shown in FIG. 15.

The access unit 201 of the first playback apparatus 20 judges whetherthe-server-address S-ADR is stored on the recording medium 10. When theserver address S-ADR is stored, the access unit 201 reads the serveraddress S-ADR from the recording medium 10. When the server addressS-ADR is not stored, the server address input unit 208 receives an inputof the server address S-ADR via the operation unit 209. Alternatively,the first playback apparatus 20 may store the server address S-ADR inadvance.

(3) The second content CNT2-1-n is not limited to wallpaper data.Alternatively, the second content CNT2-1-n may be data representingsubtitles of the first content CNT1 which is a movie. Alternatively, thesecond content CNT2-1-n may be video data, music data, text data, or BBS(Bulletin Board System) data as long as the data is in a formatsupported by the second playback apparatus 40. In the case of videodata, the format may be an MPEG-4 format, which is a compression codingstandard suitable for transmission to movable phones.

(4) The first playback apparatus 20 is not limited to a DVD systemcomposed of a DVD player and a display screen. Alternatively, the firstplayback apparatus 20 may be a personal computer. In addition, thesecond playback apparatus 40 is not limited to a mobile phone.Alternatively, the second playback apparatus 40 may be a PDA or apersonal computer.

Furthermore, the first playback apparatus 20 and the second playbackapparatus 40 may be a single apparatus. That is, the first playbackapparatus 20 transmits playback position information TI1 to the server30 during playback of the first content CNT1. In response, the server 30transmits the second content CNT2-1-n related to the first content CNT1back to the first playback apparatus 20.

Furthermore, the first playback apparatus 20 may be structured toconcurrently play back the first content CNT1 in association with thesecond content CNT2-1-n that is received from the server 30. Forexample, when the first content CNT1 is a movie and the second contentCNT2-1-n is subtitles data of the movie, the first playback apparatus 20can synchronously play back the movie and the subtitles on the displayscreen.

(5) The first playback apparatus 20 described above acquires the contentdata CNTDATA from the recording medium 10. Alternatively, however, thefirst playback apparatus 20 may acquire the content data CNTDATA over anetwork.

(6) The first playback apparatus 20 may be structured to generateplayback position information TI1 and transmit the playback positioninformation TI1 to the server 30, regardless of whether requestinformation REQ is received from a user.

For example, the first playback apparatus 20 may generate and transmitplayback position information TI1 to the server 30 every 10 secondsduring playback of a movie. With this structure, the second playbackapparatus 40 is allowed to acquire a network content without requiring auser to input request information REQ to the first playback apparatus20. Furthermore, the playback of a network content by the secondplayback apparatus 40 can be carried out in association with theplayback of a package content by the first playback apparatus 20.

(7) The control unit 206 of the first playback apparatus 20 mayaccumulate pieces of playback position information TI1 each generatedupon receipt of request information REQ from the request input unit 205,instead of immediately transmitting the playback position informationTI1 to the server 30 from the transmission unit 207. After the playbackof the first content CNT1 finishes, the first playback apparatus 20 maythen receive a user selection of apiece of playback position informationto be transmitted to the server 30. To this end, the first playbackapparatus 20 may generate thumbnail images as shown in FIG. 16A based onthe accumulated pieces of playback position information, and display thethumbnail images on the output unit 210.

With this structure, a user is allowed to provisionally select aplurality of scenes of his interest during the movie playback. After themovie ends, the user further selects from the plurality of thumbnailimages a scene to which a related content the user desires to acquire.In addition, this structure allows the user to concentrate on the movieduring the playback. After the move, the user acquires, using the secondplayback apparatus 40, a network content, which is wall paper data asshown in FIG. 16B.

(8) The first playback apparatus 20 may be structured to receive requestinformation REQ that includes information specifying a point on onescreen image of the first content CNT1 being played back. Thus, thefirst playback apparatus 20 transmits to the server 30, playbackposition information TI1 that includes the information specifying thepoint on the screen image.

This structure enables the first playback apparatus 20 to transmitplayback position information that indicates a network content relatednot only to a specific screen image of a first content but also to aspecific point on the screen image that a user desires. Thus, contentsprovider are allowed to distribute contents meeting users' needs indetail.

For example, a user specify with a mouse a point on a screen image ofthe first content CNT1 being played back. The control unit 206 acquiresthe location of the specified point within the screen image. The controlunit 206 then transmits playback position information TI1 that includesthe location of the on-screen point, from the transmission unit 207 tothe server 30.

Furthermore, the operation unit 209 of the first playback apparatus 20may be provided with buttons for selecting questions regardingcharacters and items appearing in the first content CNT1 during playback. The questions may include “What is this?” and “Who is this?” Whena user specifies a desired point on a screen displaying a specific sceneand pushes the “Who is this?” button, the server 30 transmits theprofile of the character appearing at the specified point in thespecified scene. When a user specifies a desired point on a screendisplaying a specific scene and pushes the “What is this?” button, theserver 30 transmits detailed information about, or a URL of a Web siterelated to the item appearing at the specified point in the specifiedscene.

(9) The first playback apparatus 20 specifies playback positions of acontent using the counter CTR. However, the information used to specifyplayback positions of a content is not limited to the counter CTR. Forexample, in the case of content data CNTDATA recorded on an opticaldisc, playback positions maybe specified using the optical disc's sectornumbers, track numbers, angle numbers of multi-angle, or any combinationthereof.

This arrangement ensures that the first playback apparatus 20 providesaccurate playback position information to the server 30. This holds evenif the first content CNT1 includes a branch so that one of a pluralityof predetermined scenarios is selected by a user or the first contentCNT1 is a multi-angle content including a plurality of sets of images.

(10) The first playback apparatus 20 may receive, along with an input ofrequest information REQ, information showing the level of user'sinterest to the first content CNT1 being played back. Furthermore, thefirst playback apparatus 20 may transmit, along with playback positioninformation TI1, the information showing the inputted level of user'sinterest to the server 30. With this arrangement, content providers areallowed to provide network contents in consideration of the levels ofuser's interest.

For example, a user inputs using a key pad the score representing thelevel of user's interest to the movie being played back. The firstplayback apparatus 20 transmits the inputted score to the server 30.When the score is relatively high, the server 30 transmits to the firstplayback apparatus 20, a movie that is of a similar type to the firstcontent CNT1. On the other hand, when the score is relatively low, theserver 30 transmits to the first playback apparatus 20 a movie of adifferent type from the first content CNT1.

(11) The control unit 206 of the first playback apparatus 20 may have afunction of extracting, via the access unit 201, part of the firstcontent CNT1 currently outputted from the output unit 210. Furthermore,the playback position information TI1 that the first playback apparatus20 transmits may include, in place of the counter CTR-n, the part of thefirst content CNT1 extracted by the control unit 206.

That is, on receiving request information REQ via the operation unit209, the first playback apparatus 20 extracts part of the currentlyplayed first content CNT1, and transmits playback position informationTI1 that includes the extracted part of the first content CNT1 to theserver 30. On receiving the playback position information TI1, theserver 30 extracts the part of the first content CNT1 from the receivedplayback position information TI1. The server 30 then conducts someconversion processing to generate a second content CNT2, and transmitsthe thus generated second content CNT2 to the second playback apparatus40.

This arrangement eliminates the need for the server 30 to generate,store, and manage a plurality of second contents in advance.

(12) The first playback apparatus 20 may be provided with a functionallowing a user to cancel a request for a network content after therequest input unit 205 receives request information REQ and before thetransmission unit 207 transmits playback position information TI1 to theserver 30.

Furthermore, the overall system may be provided with such a functionallowing a user to cancel a request for a network content after therequest input unit 205 of the first playback apparatus 20 receivesrequest information REQ and before the server 30 transmits a networkcontent to the second playback apparatus 40.

(13) The first playback apparatus 20 maybe structured without thetransmission unit 207, so that the output unit 210 may be structured tooutput playback position information TI1 to the outside. In addition,the second playback apparatus 40 may additionally include an input unitand a transmission unit for input and transmission of playback positioninformation TI1, respectively. A user inputs playback positioninformation TI1 outputted from the output unit 210 of the first playbackapparatus 20 to the input unit of the second playback apparatus 40. Thesecond playback apparatus 40 transmits the thus inputted playbackposition information TI1 to the server 30, thereby requestingtransmission of a network content.

This structure allows the second playback apparatus 40 to acquire anetwork content related to the first content CNT1 being played back bythe first playback apparatus 20, even if the first playback-apparatus isoff the network 50.

The playback position information TI1 that the first playback apparatus20 outputs to the outside may be G-Code for use in video recording or QR(Quick Response) code, which is new generation bar code.

(14) The server 30 may be structured to receive a plurality of pieces ofplayback position information from the first playback apparatus 20 andgenerate a new network content by combining a plurality of networkcontents corresponding to the pieces of playback position information.The new network content is then transmitted to the second playbackapparatus 40.

For example, during playback of a movie by the first playback apparatus20, a user inputs request information REQ to the first playbackapparatus 20 each time the user's favorite character makes appearance inthe movie. Upon each input of request information REQ, the firstplayback apparatus 20 generates playback position information andtransmits the thus generated playback position information to the server30. The server 30 acquires still images of scenes corresponding to aplurality of pieces of playback position information having beenreceived, and generates a single piece of still image album data usingthe thus acquired still images. The resulting still image album data istransmitted as a second content from the server 30 to the secondplayback apparatus 40.

(15) The server 30 may by structured to carry out billing processing tocharge a user that owns the first playback apparatus 20 or the secondplayback apparatus 40 for delivery of the second content CNT2-1-n. Inthe billing processing, the user identifier UID-1 may be used toidentify the user.

Furthermore, the server 30 may perform the billing processing before orafter transmitting the second content CNT2-1-n.

There may be variety of ways for the price setting. For example, asample content and a commodity content may be priced differently, or theprice may differ depending on the number of usage times. Specifically, asample content, which is a file of a small-sized image, may be providedfor free, whereas a commodity content, which is a file of a relativelyclear and larger-sized image, may be provided on a chargeable basis.Alternatively, wallpaper data may be provided free of charge for thefirst time and on a chargeable basis for the second time onward.

(16) The server 30 may be structured without the destination storageunit 303 so that the destination acquiring unit 302 acquires thedestination address ADR-1 from an external source via the network 50. Inaddition, the server 30 may be structured without the content storageunit 305, so that the content acquiring unit 304 acquires the secondcontent CNT2-1-n from an external source via the network 50.

(17) The server 30 may transmit the second content CNT2-1-n to thesecond playback apparatus 40 over a network other than the network 50via which the first playback apparatus 20 transmits playback positioninformation TI1 to the server 30.

For example, the first playback apparatus 20 transmits playback positioninformation TI1 to the server 30 via a dedicated line, and the server 30transmits the second content CNT2-1-n to the second playback apparatus40 via the Internet.

(18) It is applicable that the first playback apparatus 20 and thesecond playback apparatus 40 are owned by different users, which stillfalls within the scope of the present invention.

(19) The present invention may be embodied as any of the methodsdescribed above. Also, the present invention may be embodied as acomputer program for the computer to carry out any of the above methodsor a digital signal representing the computer program.

Furthermore, the present invention may be embodied as acomputer-readable recording medium storing the computer program or thedigital signal. Examples of such a recording medium include a flexibledisk, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an MO, a DVD, a DVD-ROM, a DVD-RAM, a BD(Blu-ray Disc) and a semiconductor memory. Furthermore, the presentinvention may be embodied as the computer program or the digital signalstored on any recording medium mentioned above.

Furthermore, the present invention may be embodied as the computerprogram or the digital signal transmitted via an electric communicationline, wireless communications, a wired communication line, or a networktypified by the Internet.

Furthermore, the present invention may be embodied as a computer systemthat includes a microprocessor and a memory. The memory stores thecomputer program mentioned above. The microprocessor may operateaccording to the computer program.

Furthermore, the program or the digital signal may be transferred inform of a recording medium mentioned above, or via a network mentionedabove, so that the program or the digital signal may be executed byanother independent computer system.

(20) The present invention may be any combination of the above-describedembodiment and modifications.

SECOND EMBODIMENT

Now, a description is given to a content-related information deliverysystem 2 consistent with a second embodiment of the present invention.

In the content-related information delivery system 2, a playbackapparatus is enabled to display BBS data acquired via a network, duringplayback of a content recorded on a recording medium. Here, a user isallowed to skip the playback of the content to a playback positiondetermined by,the user with reference to the messages on the BBS.

<Configuration>

Here, a description is given to the configuration of the content-relatedinformation delivery system 2.

FIG. 17 is a view showing the configuration of the content-relatedinformation delivery system 2. As shown in the figure, thecontent-related information delivery system 2 includes a recordingmedium 60, a playback apparatus 70, and a server 80.

The playback apparatus 70 and the server 80 are separately connected tothe network 50. The recording medium 60 is mounted on the playbackapparatus 70 when put to use. The specific example of the network 50 isthe Internet.

1. Recording Medium 60

The recording medium 60 is a portable medium having pre-recorded contentdata CNTDATA. Specifically, the recording medium 60 is a DVD-ROM.

FIG. 18 is a view showing the content data CNTDATA recorded on therecording medium 60. As shown in the figure, the content data CNTDATA iscomposed of a content identifier CID-1 and a first content CNT1.

Specifically, the first content CNT1 is content data generated bycompression coding a movie to a MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Expert Group-2)format. Note that the MPEG-2 format is mentioned by way of example andwithout limitation. Any format other than MPEG-2 may be used as long asthe playback apparatus 70 supports the format.

The content identifier CID-1 is a code or a character string uniquelyidentifying the first content CNT1. In this embodiment, the contentidentifier CID-1 is a movie title of the first content CNT1. Instead ofa movie title, however, the content identifier CID-1 may be a discnumber uniquely identifying the recording medium 60.

2. Playback Apparatus 70

FIG. 19 is a functional block diagram of the playback apparatus 70. Asshown in the figure, the playback apparatus 70 includes a first controlunit 701, a decode unit 702, a content identifier storage unit 703, auser information storage unit 704, a request input unit 705, a secondcontrol unit 706, a transmission unit 707, a reception unit 708, apermission input unit 709, a server address input unit 710, an operationunit 711, and an output unit 712.

Specifically, the playback apparatus 70 is a DVD system composed of aDVD player and a display unit. More specifically, the playback apparatus70 is a computer system composed generally of a microprocessor, a ROM, aRAM, a hard disk unit, a network connection unit, and an MPEG decoder.

(1) First Control Unit 701

The first control unit 701 includes a control unit and a DVD-ROM driveunit. The control unit is composed generally of a microprocessor, a ROMand a RAM. The DVD-ROM drive unit is composed generally of a turn table,an optical pickup, and a track buffer.

Upon mounting of the recording medium 60 on the turn table, the firstcontrol unit 701 extracts the content identifier CID-1 from the contentdata CNTDATA stored on the recording medium 60, and outputs theextracted content identifier CID-1 to the content identifier storageunit 703. Next, the first control unit 701 sequentially reads the firstcontent CNT1 from the recording medium 60 and outputs the read firstcontent CNT1 to the decode unit 702.

In addition, the first control unit 701 receives bulletin boardinformation BBS1 shown in FIG. 24 from the reception unit 708. Thebulletin board information BBS1 is information for generating anelectronic bulletin board related to the first content CNT1. As shown inthe figure, the bulletin board information BBS1 is composed of postedmessages each include playback position information. The first controlunit 701 extracts playback position information included in the receivedbulletin board information BBS1 and stores the extracted playbackposition information in the internal memory area. The bulletin boardinformation other than the playback position information is outputted tothe decode unit 702. The thus outputted bulletin board information BBS1is displayed via the decode unit 702 on the output unit 712 as part of acombined content CMBCNT. An example of the combined content CMBCNT isshown in FIG. 20.

During the time the output unit 712 displays the combined content CMBCNTas shown in FIG. 20, the first control unit 701 receives permissioninformation PRM from the permission input unit 709.

Specifically, a consideration is given here to the case where the firstcontrol unit 701 receives permission information PRM showing that aplayback button 721 a is selected by a user. On receiving the permissioninformation PRM showing the selection of playback button 721 a, thefirst control unit 701 temporarily suspends extraction of the firstcontent CNT1 from the recording medium 60, and also suspends output ofthe bulletin board information BBS1 to the decode unit 702. The firstcontrol unit 701 then reads the playback position information TI1-1which corresponds to the selected playback button 72l a from theinternal memory area.

As shown in FIG. 21, the playback position information TI1-l is composedof the content identifier CID-1 and the counter CTR-n. The counter CTR-nspecifies a playback position of the “My Favorite Scene” that isrecommended in a posted message 721. In other words, the counter CTR-nshows a time taken to reach the playback position when the first contentCNT1 is played back from the beginning.

The first control unit 701 changes the current playback positionaccording to the counter CTR-n included in the playback positioninformation TI1-1, and resumes extraction of the first content CNT1starting from the new playback position. Then, the first control unit701 resumes output of the first content CNT1 extracted from therecording medium 60 and the bulletin board information BBS1 to thedecode unit 702.

(2) Decode Unit 702

The decode unit 702 is composed generally of an MPEG-2 video decoder, anMPEG-2 audio decoder, a video buffer, and an audio buffer.

The decode unit 702 separates the first content CNT1 that issequentially outputted from the first control unit 701, into video dataand audio data. The decode unit 702 decompresses the video data to avideo signal using the MPEG-2 video decoder, and the audio data to anaudio signal using the MPEG-2 audio decoder. The decode unit 702sequentially outputs the resulting video and audio signals to the outputunit 712.

When the first control unit 701 outputs the first content CNT1 and thebulletin board information BBS1, the decode unit 702 generates a videosignal for displaying the first content CNT1 in a smaller size, therebyallowing the first content CNT1 and the bulletin board information BBS1to be concurrently displayed on one screen as shown in FIG. 20. Thedecode unit 702 outputs the resulting video signal and the audio signalto the output unit 712, along with the bulleting board information BBS1.

Note that the decode unit 702 may be implemented by software orhardware.

(3) Content Identifier Storage Unit 703

The content identifier storage unit 703 has a memory area for storingcontent identifiers. On receiving the content identifier. CID-1 from thefirst control unit 701, the content identifier storage unit 703 storesthe received content identifier CID-1 into the memory area.

(4) User Information Storage Unit 704

The user information storage unit 704 stores the user identifier UID-1′.The user identifier UID-1′ is an identifier uniquely identifying theuser of the playback apparatus 70. Specifically, the user identifierUID-1′ used herein is a serial number of the playback apparatus 70written into the user information storage unit 704 at the time ofmanufacturing.

It is naturally appreciated that the user identifier UID-1′ is notlimited to the serial number of the playback apparatus. Alternatively, auser's credit card number may be used as the user identifier UID-1′. Inthis case, the user inputs his credit card number via the operation unit711 on initialization of the playback apparatus 70. In response, thesecond control unit 706 stores the received credit card number to theuser information storage unit 704.

Alternatively, the user identifier UID-1′ may be assigned to the user bymaking user registration on a content provider's server via a Webservice. The user then inputs the thus assigned user identifier UID-1′to the playback apparatus 70 using the operation unit 711.

(5) Request Input Unit 705

Specifically, the request input unit 705 includes an infrared receiver,for example. The request input unit 705 receives an infrared signalindicative of request information REQ from the operation unit 711, andpasses the received request information REQ to the second control unit706.

The request information REQ is generated in response to a user operationmade to the operation unit 711 during the time the output unit 712 isproducing playback of the first content CNT1. The request informationREQ requests that bulletin board information BBS1 related to the firstcontent CNT1 be acquired and displayed.

(6) Second Control Unit 706

The second control unit 706 is composed generally of a microprocessor, aROM, and a RAM. On receiving request information REQ from the requestinput unit 705, the second control unit 706 acquires the contentidentifier CID-1 from the content identifier storage unit 703, and theuser identifier UID-1′ from the user information storage unit 704. Thesecond control unit 706 then generates bulletin board requestinformation REQBBS shown in FIG. 22, from the acquired contentidentifier CID-1 and user identifier UID-1′. The thus generated bulletinboard request information REQBBS is outputted to the transmission unit707.

(7) Transmission Unit 707

The transmission unit 707 receives the bulletin board requestinformation REQBBS from the second control unit 706, and also receivesthe server address S′-ADR from the server address input unit 710. Thetransmission unit 707 transmits the bulletin board request informationREQBBS to the server address S′-ADR via the network 50.

(8) Reception Unit 708

The reception unit 708 receives the bulletin board information BBS1 fromthe server 80 via the network 50, and outputs the received bulletinboard information BBS1 to the first control unit 701. The details ofbulletin board information BBS1 will be described later.

(9) Permission Input Unit 709

The permission input unit 709 includes an infrared receiver, forexample. The permission input unit 709 receives permission informationPRM outputted from the operation unit 711 by way of infraredcommunications.

The permission information PRM is information generated at a push of aspecific button on the operation unit 711 by a user, during the time thecombined content CMBCNT is being displayed on the output unit 712 asshown in FIG. 20. For example, the permission information PRM isgenerated at a push of a playback button 721 a shown in FIG. 20, andshows the current playback position of the first content CNT1 isrequested to be changed to a playback position associated with thecomment included in the posted message 721.

(10) Server Address Input Unit 710

Specifically, the server address input unit 710 includes an infraredreceiver, for example. The server address input unit 710 receives aninfrared signal indicative of the server address S′-ADR from theoperation unit 711, and outputs the received server address S′-ADR tothe transmission unit 707. Note that the server address S′-ADR is anetwork address of the server 80, such as an e-mail address or an IPaddress.

(11) Operation Unit 711

The operation unit 711 includes an operation panel provided with aplurality of buttons, for example, and also includes an infraredemitter. The operation unit 711 is a remote controller via which theplayback apparatus 70 is remotely controlled. At a push of a button onthe operation′panel by a user, the operation unit 711 generates anoperation signal corresponding to the pushed button and transmits theoperation signal by way of infrared communications to the infraredreceiver of the playback apparatus 70.

Specific examples of the operation signals generated by the operationunit 711 include request information REQ, server address S′-ADR, andpermission information PRM. At a push of a specific button by a userduring playback of the first content CNT1 by the output unit 712, theoperation unit 711 generates request information REQ and transmits thethus generated request information REQ to the request input unit 705.Also, the operation unit 711 receives a user input of the server addressS′-ADR and transmits the received server address S′-ADR to the serveraddress input unit 710. Also, at a push of an arrow key or a specificbutton by a user during playback of the combined content CMBCNT, theoperation unit 711 generates permission information PRM indicating thatthe playback button 721 a included in the posted message 721 is selectedand transmits the thus generated permission information PRM to thepermission input unit 709.

(12) Output Unit 712.

Specifically, the output unit 712 is a display unit including a displayscreen and a speaker. The output unit 712 sequentially outputs the videosignal and the audio signal received from the decode unit 702 to thedisplay screen and the speaker, respectively.

The output unit 712 receives from the decode unit 702, the video signalgenerated by decoding the first content CNT1 and the bulletin boardinformation BBS1 acquired from the server 80. Upon receipt, the outputunit 712 outputs, as shown in FIG. 20, the first content CNT1 on theleft half to the display screen and the bulletin board information BBS1on the right half of the display screen, thereby generating the combinedcontent CMBCNT on the display screen. The bulletin board informationBBS1 includes a plurality of posted messages, and each posted message iscomposed of a title, a comment, and a playback button.

For example, the posted message 721 shown in FIG. 20 is composed thetitle “My Favorite Scene”, the comment “This is my favorite scene.”, andthe playback button 721 a. When the user selects the playback button 721a, the output unit 712 changes the current playback position of thefirst content CNT1 to the scene associated with the comment. Similarly,the posted message 722 is composed of the title “Touching Scene”, thecomment “This scene brought me to tears.”, and a playback button 722 a.When the user selects the playback button 722 a, the output unit 712changes the current playback position of the first content CNT1 to thescene associated with the comment.

3. Server 80

The server 80 is a BBS server for providing an electronic bulletin boardrelated to contents over the network. The server 80 has a networkaddress, S′-ADR.

FIG. 23 is a functional block diagram of the server 80. As shown in thefigure, the server 80 includes a reception unit 801, a destinationacquiring unit 802, a destination storage unit 803, a BBS acquiring unit804, a BBS storage unit 805, and a transmission unit 806.

Specifically, the server 80 is a computer system composed generally of amicroprocessor, a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk unit, and a network connectionunit.

(1) Reception Unit 801

The reception unit 801 includes a network connection unit, and receivesbulletin board request information REQBBS from the playback apparatus70. As shown in FIG. 22, the bulletin board request information REQBBSis composed of the user identifier UID-1′ and the content identifierCID-1. The reception unit 801 extracts the user identifier UID-1′ fromthe received bulletin board request information REQBBS, and outputs theextracted user identifier UID-1′ to the destination acquiring unit 802.In addition, the reception unit 801 extracts the content identifierCID-1 from the received bulletin board request information REQBBS andoutputs the extracted content identifier CID-1 to the BBS acquiring unit804.

(2) Destination Acquiring Unit 802

The destination acquiring unit 802 receives the user identifier UID-1′from the reception unit 801. The destination acquiring unit 802 thenacquires from the destination storage unit 803, the destination addressADR-1′ associated with the received user identifier UID-1′.

(3) Destination Storage unit 803

The destination storage unit 803 stores user identifiers and destinationaddresses in a one-to-one association. Here, each destination addressmay be a network address, such as an e-mail address or an IP address, ofan apparatus identified by a corresponding user identifier.Specifically, the destination storage unit 803 stores the user UID-1′ inassociation with the destination address ADR-1′. The destination addressADR-1′ is a network address of the playback apparatus 70.

Note that the destination storage unit 803 stores the user identifiersand destination addresses through prior user registration. For example,users may in advance inform the user identifiers and destinationaddresses to the server 30, by post or via a Web service.

(4) BBS Acquiring Unit 804

The BBS acquiring unit 804 receives the content identifier CID-1 fromthe reception unit 801. The BBS acquiring unit 804 then acquiresbulletin board information BBS1 associated with the received contentidentifier CID-1 from the BBS storage unit 805, which will be describedlater. The BBS acquiring unit 804 outputs the acquired bulletin boardinformation BBS1 to the transmission unit 806.

(5) BBS Storage Unit 805

The BBS storage unit 805 stores content identifiers and pieces ofbulletin board information in a one-to-one association, as shown in FIG.24. According to the figure, the content identifier CID-1 is stored inassociation with the bulletin board information BBS1, the contentidentifier CID-2 is stored in association with the bulletin boardinformation BBS2 . . . and the content identifier CID-k is stored inassociation with the bulletin board information BBSk.

The bulletin board information is for providing over the network anelectronic bulletin board related to the content identified by acorresponding content identifier. Hereinafter, a description is given tothe bulletin board information BBS1 as an example.

The bulletin board information BBS1 is for providing an electronicbulletin board related to the first content CNT1 identified by thecontent identifier CID-1. The bulletin board information includes aplurality of posted messages 721, 722. . . . Each posted message iscomposed of title, a comment, and playback position information. Theposted message 721 is composed of the title “My Favorite Scene”, thecomment “This is the scene I recommend.”, and the playback positioninformation TI1-1. The playback position information TI1-1 specifies theplayback position of the scene to which the comment relates. The postedmessage 722 is composed of the title “Touching Scene”, the comment “Thisscene brought me to tears.”, and the playback position informationTI1-2. The playback position information TI1-2 specifies the playbackposition of the scene to which the comment relates.

(4)Transmission Unit 806

The transmission unit 806 receives the destination address ADR-1′ fromthe destination acquiring unit 806, and the bulletin board informationBBS1 from the BBS acquiring unit 804. The transmission unit 806transmits the bulletin board information BBS1 to the destination addressADR-1′ via the network 50.

<Operation>

Now, a description is given to the operation of the content-relatedinformation delivery system 2, with reference to a flowchart shown inFIGS. 25 and 26.

The playback apparatus 70 reads from the recording medium 60 mountedthereon, the content identifier CID-1 included in the content dataCNTDATA, and stores the read content identifier CID-1 to the contentidentifier storage unit 703 (step S300). The second control unit 706judges whether request information REQ is received via the request inputunit 705. If no request information REQ has been received (step S301,NO), the processing goes onto a step S314.

On receiving request information REQ (step S301, YES), the secondcontrol unit 706 reads the user identifier UID-1′from the userinformation storage unit 704 and reads the content identifier CID-1 fromthe content identifier storage unit 703. The second control unit 706generates bulletin board request information REQBBS from the useridentifier UID-1′ and the content identifier CID-1 (step S302).

The second control unit 706 outputs the thus generated bulletin boardrequest information REQBBS to the transmission unit 707. Thetransmission unit 707 then acquires the server address S′-ADR from theserver address input unit 710 (step S303). The transmission unit 707transmits the bulletin board request information REQBBS to the serveraddress S′-ADR. The server 80 receives the bulletin board requestinformation REQBBS with the reception unit 801 (step S304).

The reception unit 801 then extracts the user identifier UID-1′ and thecontent identifier CID-1 from the bulletin board request informationREQBBS (step S305). The reception unit 801 outputs the extracted useridentifier UID-1′ to the destination acquiring unit 802 (step S306), andthe content identifier CID-1 to the BBS acquiring unit 804 (step S307).

The destination acquiring unit 802 acquires a destination address thatcorresponds to the user identifier UID-1′, with reference to thedestination storage unit 803, and transmits the acquired destinationaddress to the transmission unit 806 (step S308). The BBS acquiring unit804 acquires the bulletin board information BBS1 associated with thecontent identifier CID-1, and outputs the acquired bulletin boardinformation BBS1 to the transmission unit 806 (step S309).

The transmission unit 806 transmits the bulletin board information BBS1to the destination address acquired in the step S308. This completes theoperation at the server's end. Next, the playback apparatus 70 receivesthe bulletin board information BBS1 with the reception unit 708 (stepS310). The reception unit 708 outputs the bulletin board informationBBS1 to the first control unit 701. The first control unit 701 displaysthe bulletin board information BBS1 on the output unit 712 via thedecode unit 702 (step S311)

The first control unit 701 judges whether permission information PRM hasbee received via the permission input unit 709. If no permissioninformation PRM has been received (step S312, NO), the processing goesonto a step S314.

If permission information PRM is received (step S312, YES), the firstcontrol unit 701 acquires the playback position information TI1-1 thatcorresponds to the received permission information PRM. The firstcontrol unit 701 then changes the current playback position of the firstcontent CNT1 in accordance with the counter CTR-n included in theplayback position information TI1-1 (step S313).

Next, the first control unit 701 sequentially extracts the first contentCNT1 from the recording medium 60 to the decode unit 702. In response,the decode unit 702 sequentially decodes the received part of the firstcontent CNT1 (step S314). The output unit 712 sequentially outputs thedecoded part of the first content CNT1 to the display screen and thespeaker (step S315).

The first control unit 701 judges whether the entire first content CNT1has been outputted. On judging that the first content CNT1 is not yetcompletely outputted (step S316, NO), the processing continues back fromthe step S314. On judging that the output of the first content CNT1 iscompleted (step S316, YES), the playback apparatus 70 terminates theprocessing.

<Modifications>

The present invention has been described by way of the above embodiment.It is naturally appreciated, however, that the present invention is notlimited to the specific embodiment disclosed above, and modificationsincluding the following still fall within the scope of the presentinvention.

(1) The server 80 may supply to the playback apparatus 70, the playbackposition information alone rather than the bulletin board informationBBS1. This arrangement still falls within the scope of the presentinvention.

For example, at a user request, the server 80 may transmit playbackposition request information REQT1 to the server 80. On receiving theplayback position request information REQT1, the server 80 may transmitto the playback apparatus 70, playback position information specifying ascene that the content provider recommends.

(2) Furthermore, the playback position information that the server 80transmits to the playback apparatus 70 may contain playback controlinformation controlling the playback operation of the playback apparatus70. The playback apparatus 70 may carry out the specified playbackoperation according to the playback control information at the time whenthe current playback position of the first content CNT1 reaches aposition specified by the playback position information.

Such playback control information may be information for displaying acomment on the screen or information for skipping the playback toanother scene.

(3) The playback apparatus 70 may be so structured that the secondcontrol unit 706 transmits bulletin board request information REQBBS tothe server 80 continuously or periodically, irrespective of whether therequest input unit 705 receives a user input of request information REQ.

Furthermore, the server 80 maybe structured to manage a plurality ofpieces of bulletin board information associated with a plurality ofplayback positions of the first content CNT1.

With the above structure, during playback of a movie, the playbackapparatus 70 continuously or periodically transmits bulletin boardrequest information REQBBS to the server 80. Thus, the playbackapparatus 70 is allowed to acquire bulletin board information withoutrequiring a user input of request information REQ. More specifically,the playback apparatus 70 is allowed at all times to acquire bulletinboard information that is associated with the current playback positionof the first content CNT1.

Note that the playback apparatus 70 may be structured to displaybulletin board information after completion of, not during, the playbackof the first content CNT1 the playback.

(4) The request information REQ that the playback apparatus 70 transmitsto the server 80 may contain information specifying a point on a screendisplaying a specific scene. Such information is generated according toa user selection of a specific point on a screen displaying a specificscene of the first content CNT1.

With the above structure, the playback apparatus 70 is allowed torequest the server 80 for information related to a user selected pointon a screen displaying a specific scene of the first content CNT1.

(5) Furthermore, each posted message included in the bulletin boardinformation BBS1 that the server 80 transmits to the playback apparatus70 may contain, in addition to playback position information,information specifying a point on a screen displaying a scene specifiedby the playback position information.

With the above structure, the user is informed not only recommendedscenes of the first content CNT1 being played back on the playbackapparatus 70, but also specific points on the scenes that arerecommended. That is, the content provider can present more detailedinformation about the recommended scenes. For example, the playbackapparatus 70 may display a symbol such as a square or a circle overlaidon a specific object (e.g. the building appearing on the right topcorner of the screen), thereby presenting recommendation information inmore detail to, the user.

(6) The content provider may carry out billing processing to charge auser of the playback apparatus 70 at the time when the server 80transmits the bulletin board information BBS1 to the playback apparatus70. In the billing processing, the content provider may identify theuser with the user identifier.

Note that the server 80 may carry out the billing processing eitherbefore or after transmitting the bulletin board information BBS1.Furthermore, the amount to be charged may be determined in variety ofways. For example, the amount to be charged may be determined dependingon the number of usage times. Alternatively, the bulletin boardinformation may be provided free of charge for the first time and on achargeable basis for the second time onward.

(7) The playback apparatus 70 may check whether the content identifierincluded in the playback position information TI1-1 (see FIG. 21) indeedmatches any of the content identifiers stored in the content identifierstorage unit 703. The playback apparatus 70 displays the receivedbulletin board information BBS1 only after confirming that there is amatch.

With the above structure, the server 80 may transmit a plurality ofpieces of bulletin board information to an indefinite number ofapparatuses. Then, the playback apparatus 70 selectively uses bulletinboard information of which content identifier matches the contentidentifier CID-1 included in the content data CNTDATA.

(8) The server 80 may encrypt the bulletin board information BBS1 beforetransmission to the playback apparatus 70 in order to preventunauthorized distribution of contents.

(9) The playback apparatus 70 may change the current playback positionof the first content CNT1 according to the playback position informationTI1-1, TI1-2 . . . included in the received bulletin board informationBBS1, even if the permission input unit 709 receives no user input ofpermission information PRM. In this case, the playback apparatus 70 maydisplay a confirmation message reading “Do you want to change thecurrent playback position?”

(10) The present invention may be embodied as any of the methodsdescribed above. Also, the present invention may be a computer programfor the computer to carry out any of the above methods or a digitalsignal representing the computer program.

Furthermore, the present invention may be embodied as acomputer-readable recording medium storing the computer program or thedigital signal. Examples of such a recording medium include a flexibledisk, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an MO, a DVD, a DVD-ROM, a DVD-RAM, a BD(Blu-ray Disc) and a semiconductor memory. Furthermore, the presentinvention may be embodied as the computer program or the digital signalrecorded on any recording medium mentioned above.

Furthermore, the present invention may be embodied as the computerprogram or the digital signal transmitted via an electric communicationline, wireless communications, a wired communication line, or a networktypified by the Internet.

Furthermore, the present invention may be embodied as a computer systemcomposed of a microprocessor and a memory. The memory stores thecomputer program mentioned above. The microprocessor may operateaccording to the computer program.

Furthermore, the present invention may be embodied as a computer systemcomposed of a microprocessor and a memory. The memory stores thecomputer program mentioned above. The microprocessor may operateaccording to the computer program.

Furthermore, the program or the digital signal may be transferred inform of a recording medium mentioned above, or via a network mentionedabove, so that the program or the digital signal may be executed byanother independent computer system.

(11) The present invention may be any combination of the above-describedembodiment and modifications.

(12) The present invention may be any combination of the above-describedfirst and second embodiments.

<Recapitulation>

As has been described above, the present invention provides acontent-related information delivery system that includes a server and aplayback apparatus. The server transmits playback position informationspecifying a playback position of a content to the playback apparatus.The playback apparatus receives the playback position information fromthe server, and plays back the content starting from the positionspecified by the received playback position information.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus is enabled toplay back the content from the position recommended by the server.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a playback apparatusfor a content. The playback apparatus includes: a playback positioninformation receiving unit operable to receive playback positioninformation from a server; and a playback unit operable to playback thecontent starting from a position specified by the received playbackposition information.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus is enabled toplay back the content from the position recommended by the server.

Here, the playback unit may start playback of the content from theposition specified by the playback position information, on receiving auser instruction requesting to change the current playback position.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus starts playbackof the content from the position specified by the playback positioninformation in response to a user instruction, thereby increasing theuser convenience.

Here, the playback apparatus may further include a playback positioninformation request unit operable to request, on receiving a userrequest, the server for playback position information.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus issues a requestfor playback position information to the server, in response to a userrequest. Thus, the user is allowed to request and acquire playbackposition information only when necessary. As a result, the userconvenience is increased.

Here, when the playback position information receiving unit receives theplayback position information during playback of the content, theplayback unit may change the current playback position to the playbackposition specified by the received playback position information, andresume playback of the content.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus is allowed torequest the server for a recommended playback position, even duringplayback of the content. The playback apparatus can then play back thecontent from the recommended playback position according to the playbackposition information transmitted from the server.

Here, the playback position information receiving unit may receive fromthe server, an electronic bulletin board that includes the playbackposition information.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus receives theplayback position information as the electronic bulleting board. Thus,the user can instruct the change of the current playback position asnecessary, with reference to messages posted on the electronic bulletinboard.

Here, the playback unit may be provided with a display screen foroutputting the content and the electronic bulletin board. The displayscreen concurrently displays the content and the electronic bulletinboard thereon.

Furthermore, the playback unit may generate a combined content that iscomposed of the above-mentioned content and the electronic bulletinboard, and output the resulting combined content on-the display screen.

With the structure stated above, the user can view the content and theelectronic bulletin board at the same time.

Here, the playback apparatus may further include a display screen fordisplaying the content thereon. The playback apparatus receives aninstruction selecting a desired point on the display screen duringplayback of the content, and acquires information showing an on-screenposition of the selected point. The playback position informationrequest unit transmits to the server the playback position informationthat includes the on-screen position information.

With the structure stated above, the playback apparatus is enabled toreceive a selection of a point on a screen displaying playback of thecontent from the user viewing the content. The playback apparatus thenissue to the server a request for the playback position informationrelating to the selected on-screen point.

Here, the content may be stored on a portable recording medium. Theplayback position information receiving unit receives the playbackposition information specifying a position on the recording medium. Theplayback unit plays back the content starting from the specifiedposition.

With the structure sated above, also in the case of the content storedon a recording medium, the playback apparatus is enabled to receive theplayback position information from the server to play back the contentfrom the position recommended by the server.

Here, the playback position information request unit may read a contentidentifier uniquely identifying the content from the recording medium,and transmit to the server the playback position request informationthat includes the read content identifier.

With the structure stated above, also in the case where the recordingmedium stores a plurality of contents, the playback apparatus transmitsthe content identifier to the server. Thus, the playback apparatus isenabled to acquire playback position information that relates to adesired one of the contents.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a server including: aplayback position information acquiring unit operable to acquireplayback position information specifying a playback position of acontent; and a playback position information transmitting unit operableto transmit the acquired playback position information to a playbackapparatus that plays back the content.

With the structure stated above, the server is enabled to control theposition of the content played back by the playback apparatus. Thus, theserver can cause the playback apparatus to playback the content startingfrom any playback position recommended at the server's end.

Here, the server may further include a playback position informationstorage unit operable to store playback position information inassociation with a content identifier that uniquely identifies thecontent. The playback position information acquiring unit acquires theplayback position information from the playback position informationstorage unit, with reference to the content identifier.

With the structure stated above, the server can store a plurality ofpieces of playback position information each in association with acontent identifier. Thus, the server can store, for each of a pluralityof contents, a piece of playback position information specifying arecommended playback position.

Here, the server may further include a request receiving unit operableto receive request information that includes a content identifier fromthe playback apparatus. The playback position information acquiring unitacquires from the playback position information storage unit, a piece ofplayback position information associated with the received contentidentifier.

With the structure stated above, the server transmits playback positioninformation in response to a request from the playback apparatus. Thus,it is possible to deliver playback position information that meets theneeds of the user.

Here, the playback position information storage unit may store anelectronic bulletin board that includes the playback positioninformation. The playback position information acquiring unit acquiresthe electronic bulletin board from the playback position informationstorage unit. The playback position information transmitting unittransmits the thus acquired electronic bulletin board to the playbackapparatus.

With the structure stated above, the server transmits playback positioninformation as part of an electronic bulletin board. With the advantageof the electronic bulletin board, there is provided a better servicethan in the case of transmitting playback position information alone.

Here, the playback position information storage unit stores electronicbulletin boards each relates to an image included in one of scenes ofthe content. Each electronic bulletin board is stored in associationwith on-screen position information specifying the position of the imageon a display screen displaying the respective scene. The requestreceiving unit receives the request information that includes theon-screen position information. The playback position informationacquiring unit acquires from the playback position information storageunit, an electronic bulletin board associated with the on-screenposition information included in the received request information.

With the structure stated above, the server is enabled to deliver aparticular electronic bulletin board that relates to a character or anitem appearing in a scene displayed on the playback apparatus. Thus, itis possible to transmit the playback position information that closelymeets the user needs.

Here, the playback apparatus may further include: a user identifierreceiving unit operable to receive a user identifier uniquelyidentifying the user of playback apparatus; and a billing unit operableto charge the user based on the received user identifier.

With the structure stated above, the server may charge the user forplayback position information provided at a request of the user.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention is applicable in industries for providing contentsto users. For example, a content provider may offer additional servicesto users in possession of contents having been distributed in form of arecording medium. Through the services, information related to thecontents is delivered to the users over a network in a manner closelymeeting the user needs.

1. A content-related information delivery system including: a playbackapparatus comprising a monitoring unit operable to monitor a currentplayback position of a content during playback, a playback positioninformation generating unit operable to acquire the current playbackposition from the monitoring unit and generate, using the acquiredplayback position, playback position information specifying a segment ofthe content, and a playback position information transmitting unitoperable to transmit the generated playback position information to aserver; and the server comprising a playback position informationreceiving unit operable to receive the playback position informationfrom the playback apparatus, a related information acquiring unitoperable to acquire information related to the segment of the contentspecified by the received playback position information, and a relatedinformation transmitting unit operable to transmit the acquired relatedinformation to a destination apparatus.
 2. A playback apparatus forplaying back a content and requesting a server for information relatedto the content, comprising: a playback position information generatingunit operable to generate playback position information specifying asegment of the content; and a playback position information transmittingunit operable to transmit the generated playback position information tothe server.
 3. The playback apparatus according to claim 2, wherein theplayback position information generating unit includes: a selectingsubunit operable to receive a user selection of a desired scene of thecontent; an acquiring subunit operable to acquire a playback position ofthe selected scene of the content; and a generating subunit operable togenerate the playback position information that includes the acquiredplayback position.
 4. The playback apparatus according to claim 3,further comprising: a monitoring unit operable to monitor a currentplayback position of the content during playback, wherein the acquiringsubunit acquires the playback position of the selected scene from themonitoring unit.
 5. The playback apparatus according to claim 4, furthercomprising: a content identifier acquiring unit operable to acquire acontent identifier uniquely identifying the content, wherein themonitoring unit monitors the current playback position by measuring atime period elapsed from a start of the playback, and the generatingsubunit generates the playback position information that includes thecontent identifier acquired by the content identifier acquiring unit andthe playback position acquired by the acquiring subunit.
 6. The playbackapparatus according to claim 5, further comprising: a display unitoperable to display the content on a screen; and an on-screen positionacquiring unit operable to receive a user selection of a desired pointon the screen displaying the selected scene and acquire an on-screenposition of the selected point, wherein the generating subunit generatesthe playback position information that includes the content identifier,the playback position, and the on-screen position.
 7. The playbackapparatus according to claim 4, wherein the playback apparatus reads thecontent from a portable recording medium and plays back the readcontent, the monitoring unit monitors the current playback position onthe recording medium during playback of the content, and the acquiringsubunit acquires the playback position of the selected scene on therecording medium.
 8. The playback apparatus according to claim 3,wherein the content is composed of a plurality of frames, each frameincludes a playback time showing a time from a start of the content atwhich the frame is to be played back, and the acquiring subunit acquiresa playback time of a frame corresponding to the selected scene.
 9. Theplayback apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the content is composedof a plurality of frames, the selecting subunit acquires a framecorresponding to the selected scene, and the generating subunitgenerates the playback position information that includes the acquiredframe.
 10. The playback apparatus according to claim 2, furthercomprising: a related information receiving unit operable to receivefrom the server, information related to the segment of the contentspecified by the playback position information.
 11. The playbackapparatus according to claim 10, wherein the playback apparatus playsback the content in association with the related information received bythe related information receiving unit.
 12. A server for deliveringinformation related to a content, comprising: a playback positioninformation receiving unit operable to receive playback positioninformation specifying a segment of the content from a playbackapparatus that plays back the content; a related information acquiringunit operable to acquire information related to the segment of thecontent specified by the received playback position information; and arelated information transmitting unit operable to transmit the acquiredrelated information to a destination apparatus.
 13. The server accordingto claim 12, further comprising: a related information storage unitoperable to store, for each scene of the content, information related tothe scene in association with a playback position of the scene, whereinthe related information receiving unit receives the playback positioninformation that includes a playback position of a scene of the content,and the related information acquiring unit acquires, from the relatedinformation storage unit, a piece of related information associated withthe playback position that is included in the playback positioninformation.
 14. The server according to claim 13, wherein the relatedinformation storage unit stores, for each scene of the content, therelated information which is a frame corresponding to the scene orinformation generated by processing the frame.
 15. The server accordingto claim 13, wherein the related information storage unit stores, foreach scene of the content, the related information which is an imageappearing in the scene in association with a position of the image on ascreen displaying the scene, the playback position information receivingunit receives the playback position information that includes a playbackposition of a scene and an on-screen position of an image, and therelated information acquiring unit acquires a piece of relatedinformation specified by the playback position and the on-screenposition that are included in the received playback positioninformation.
 16. The server according to claim 12, further comprising: auser identifier receiving unit operable to receive from the playbackapparatus a user identifier uniquely identifying a user of the playbackapparatus; and a destination storage unit operable to store a pluralityof user identifiers each in association with a piece of destinationinformation showing a destination apparatus for transmission of therelated information, wherein the related information transmitting unitacquires, with reference to the destination storage unit, destinationinformation associated with the user identifier received by the useridentifier receiving unit, and transmits the related information to thedestination apparatus shown by the acquired destination information. 17.The server according to claim 16, wherein the destination storage unitstores the user identifier uniquely identifying the user of the playbackapparatus, in association with a piece of destination informationshowing the playback apparatus as the destination apparatus, and therelated information transmitting unit transmits the related informationto the playback apparatus.
 18. The server according to claim 16, whereinthe destination information storage unit stores the user identifieruniquely identifying the user of the playback apparatus, in associationwith a piece of destination information showing, as the destinationapparatus, an apparatus other than the playback apparatus, and therelated information transmitting unit transmits the related informationto said other apparatus shown by the destination information.
 19. Theserver according to claim 16, further comprising: a billing unitoperable to charge the user for the related information, based on theuser identifier.
 20. The server according to claim 10, wherein theplayback position information receiving unit receives, as the playbackposition information, a frame out of a plurality of frames constitutingthe content, and the related information acquiring unit generates therelated information by processing the received frame.
 21. Acontent-related information request method usable by a playbackapparatus that plays back a content and requests a server forinformation related to the content, the method comprising: a playbackposition information acquiring step of generating playback positioninformation showing a segment of the content; and a playback positioninformation transmitting step operable to transmit the acquired playbackposition information to the server.
 22. A content-related informationrequest program executable by a playback apparatus that plays back acontent and requests a server for information related to the content,the program comprising code operable to cause the playback apparatus toperform: a playback position information acquiring step of generatingplayback position information showing a segment of the content; and aplayback position information transmitting step operable to transmit theacquired playback position information to the server.
 23. Acontent-related information delivery method usable by a server thatdelivers information related to a content, the method comprising: aplayback position information receiving step of receiving playbackposition information from a playback apparatus that plays back thecontent, the playback position information specifying a segment of thecontent; a related information acquiring step of acquiring informationrelated to the segment of the content specified by the received playbackposition information; and a related information transmitting step oftransmitting the acquired related information to a destinationapparatus.
 24. A content-related information delivery program executableby a server that delivers information related to a content, the programcomprising code operable to cause the server to perform: a playbackposition information receiving step of receiving playback positioninformation from a playback apparatus that plays back the content, theplayback position information specifying a segment of the content; arelated information acquiring step of acquiring information related tothe segment of the content specified by the received playback positioninformation; and a related information transmitting step of transmittingthe acquired related information to a destination apparatus.